Chapter 7: Prologue Chapter 7
While the metal was slowly returning to the liquid state again, Arkyn began to tap his fingers along the tray of sand.
Dusk couldn't see how Arkyn was manipulating the elements since he didn't receive the same eye treatment Arkyn did to gain [Mage Sight], but he could still see the result.
Arkyn disturbed the natural air element to press the sand into the shape of a flat disk with a hole in the center. He then carefully shaped more details around the sides. After a few minutes, he made a open-die casting of a circular amulet and a series of ringlets that made up a chain.
The tray of carefully shaped, oily sand would act as a model for his Molten ore.
It took only a few moments, but the metal was still going to take a while to reach a casting temperature once again. So while waiting, Arkyn read the letter aloud in its entirety to Dusk and himself.
'To the Mage of Discovery,
The College would like to confirm with you that the structures you found in the Dagarok Mountains have been located. We have managed to send a first-round surveyor to sight the unidentifiable objects before snowfall.
The improvised cartography proved useful in locating the mountain roads you described leading to the sight, as well as what appeared to be the "fortress ruins" you noted in your letter.
The second-round surveyors have communicated recently to the college and verified your findings to be true. There were no remnants that provide absolute dating sadly. We do, however, suspect with the aging of the stonewalls inspected so far, the castle dates back to AT LEAST 400 YEARS AGO.
We once again thank you for not infringing on the ancient sites and taking souvenirs of any kind. Some of our more mana-sensitive mages determined there were still active enchantments.
Whether or not the enchantments are failing relics or traps set by raiders, the final team will attempt to inspect the discovery and we will accredit your travel company as the finders. We only wish to contact you more closely on the findings.
Best Regards,
Scribe Office to the College of Callibust'
'There were a lot of words I didn't understand in that letter. Probably not good considering we are about to enter a world full of people that talk like that.' Dusk said once Arkyn folded up the letter and placed it between his stack of books.
"I didn't understand all the terms either, I've never even heard of this Callibust place before, but if you can get a grasp on some of the context that the words leave behind. We can figure out some of the meanings on our own." Arkyn went deep into thought while hovering over the crucible.
It was nearing the temperature he wanted, and Arkyn couldn't help his heart from twinging at the sight of all the lost metal that had boiled off the edges. His life as a blacksmith made any material lost feel like a waste.
He mulled over what the letter said a few more times to distract himself from the loss. After a short while, he came up with what he believed happened at the camp.
"Clearly someone was traveling through the mountain ranges that the people of the Continent now call the 'Dagarok Mountains.' Not hard to assume that they are referring to the mountains we are currently deep below.
They must have found some of the nearby architecture, most likely pieces of the [Gate Network], and the dirt roads would have led them to the castle. Once they found the Odbrane Castle, they contacted this 'College of Callibust'.
It would make sense that the college would send their own specialists to investigate and confirm. The team then wrote this letter to the discoverers, telling the initial finders they discovered something big enough to be regarded as a credible find."
'So why would the mage still have the letter? Did he just not send this paper to the mysterious finder? Choosing to keep it to himself instead.' Dusk was rather curious himself, as this was one of the first times a discussion did not bore him with topics he had heard about countless times.
Arkyn could only shrug in response though. "At that point, the fine details don't help us that much. Maybe they just couldn't get in contact with the discoverer again or the researcher planned to send it on their return trip. It doesn't matter much for our trek out of the mountains."
'Trek out the mountains? I thought we would use those tunnel-doors you always talk about.'
"You mean the [Gate Network]? The long travel devices my parents helped create?"
"Yes, would it not be much easier than walking through the cold winds for so long?" Dusk couldn't help but shiver at just the thought.
He may have been a magical creature, but he was still a reptile. Regardless of his strange nature, the chill of the high altitudes never suited him. Most Fractals Snakes had that same issue, and they would find warm places beneath the dirt to nest a lot of the time.
That desire explained why so many began appearing in the Forge beneath the Odbrane castle. It's high-temperature forges produced a warmth along the mountain that could be sensed from even a distance. Additionally, the small rodents and moles that were lured by the heat too became a perfect part of the Fractal Snake feeding grounds.
The inadvertent attraction of small predators and prey ended up resulting in the blacksmiths taming many of Dusk's ancestors as well. They made for perfect mousers and kept the small creatures from eating out of the castle's granary.
"It's very unlikely that [Gates] of any kind would be operable now. If the castle has aged this badly, I can only imagine the status of the [Gate Networks] used to travel into the city. Like I said before, the pieces of broken ones are probably what the discoverers originally found.
If they were still usable, then there'd definitely be a lot more than a few bodies outside the castle walls. None of [Gates] could be operating right now if they have been left to decay so far away from the castle."
That's when Arkyn began to think more about life outside the castle. Odbrane was half of the entire Continent, not just a densely packed castle of mages and miners.
There were hundreds of cities, thousands of towns, and countless plots of farmland. All of that was occupied with people.
'If the researchers considered the castle a discovery, that meant it had been lost to the public for a long enough time to be forgotten even from recorded history.' Arkyn realized. 'There is no possible force that could have wiped out our entire culture and its history. Just what in the name of the dead gods happened to Odbrane?'
Arkyn had to push that dark thought aside as it was time to start molding the amulet and chain. Once it was ready, Arkyn grabbed the yellow and red glowing crucible with a weathered pair of tongs. He poured its contents into the cast before sealing the top surface with more packed sand.
"It's hard to believe that I was just gonna make this into ingots today and some pickaxe heads tomorrow." Arkyn said while carrying it out the forge doorway. "Follow me Dusk, let me show you one of the greatest creations in all of human history."
They walked and slithered through the underground corridor with a quick pace. Arkyn looked to the shadows and didn't feel a sense of dread as before. The glimpses of ghosts in his mind were still there, but he had come to terms that the people they represented in his head that had truly died.
They weren't haunting him though, they were motivating him to discover the truth.
Arkyn found himself back at the double doors made of metal and glowing with a slight shimmer that told any common mage that they were enchanted.
He put his hands onto the surface like usual, except this time he was attempting to open it, not just feel the radiating energy.
When using [Mage Sight], Arkyn's eyes went from red to white again, and he could see the edges of the doors were covered in thick, golden tethers that spread out of the doorframe and into the tunnels and castle above.
It was the main source of power for the castle and all the mana tethers it branched out were so bright and clustered, that very little of the corridor was left unaffected by the lines of magical energy.
In the center of the doors, there were five circular arrays scattered along the front. Each one was missing what looked like random segments in their circular formation. Reminding Arkyn of random bites taken out of a bread bun.
When the runes of an array were spaced out incorrectly, with some too far apart to connect or the path of the runes was just too close and jumbled; a mage would normally step in to adjust it.
Such a problematic characteristic would mean an array could never operate correctly on its own. If carefully left incomplete however, it acted like a lock and key system that only a mage with [Mage Sight] or nearly impossible mana sensitivity could unlock.
Arkyn began spreading several of his own white strands of mana from his palms and watched the lines travel to the gaps between the runes in the closest array. As soon as he connected the array into a complete loop, the mana charging through the door took over and started doing its job.
It was similar to the steps used to rig the castle alarm at the front gate, as some of the runes were intentionally incomplete because of their spacing. They just needed a shove of assistance from an outside source to function.
After a few seconds, Arkyn felt the first array fully activate and the large bolts in the door were pushed forward. A large thud could be felt all around the tunnel as the first lock cylinder inside the double doors had been opened.
Arkyn disconnected his mana from runes and it deactivated the earth magic. He began creating another set of mana tethers to affect the next array. He repeated the process until every array except for one had pushed a lock open.
Only four of the five arrays were designed to open the door. The final array in the middle was a trick to lure trespassers into activating an earth-based array set to affect the area above their heads, collapsing a portion of the tunnel with them still inside. Sand and rubble would come crashing down on their heads and most likely suffocate them if they weren't properly prepared.
Once the door was free to swing on its hinges, Arkyn pushed it open and released a heavy wave of heat and light over them. The doors only opened a crack, but for a split second, Arkyn felt like he was outside again.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone